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About me

Hello all! We bought our first house in Nov 09 and it was certainly a fixer upper. I am passionate about my chosen profession and LOVE being a Registered Nurse. In my spare time...I adore refinishing furniture, home decor, all things white, baking, card making, crafting & sewing! Life is what you make it-Love and Light

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

It's been a whole year already? I cannot believe I am posting another birthday party for my lil (sniff sniff) man. He turned 2 at the end of January. Time files.This year we went with a Vintage Trains theme because AJ is really diggin' all things train. Not just Thomas the Tank Engine, ALL trains. His Daddy is pretty excited to be building train yards with him too :)

Alexander's art easel greeted his guests requesting them "All Aboard!" for the party. Lots of helium balloons decorated indoor and outdoor. I love balloons and they really add a lot for so little money and effort.

I did a quick wreath on the door using the welcome sign from the cute printables I ordered from Paper Cow Designs. I think it is so cute!

The favor table was located at the front door and was a pretty big hit. Everyone seemed to love it. I purchased conductor hats, train whistles and red bandanas for all the kids. My mother in law also bought the kidlets a lil treat for the paper bags- cute train drink cups and train cookies.

The chalkboard Arrivals and Destinations board was just a foamy poster board and chalk. easy as pie.
We used places the guests were arriving from.

These little Thank You tags are what sold me on this set. I just thought they were so sweet. Sorry it's a bit blurry!

I made the cupcakes and again, the toppers were from the printable set. I used to have a cupcake & cupcake pop bussiness a few years ago so baking these is a snap.

The cake was made with love by my Auntie Liz. She made AJ's first birthday cake as well as our wedding cake and wedding cupcakes. I left the design in here hands. Loved the details and AJ loved Thomas!

Probably the coolest thing we did was rent an electric train for the kiddos. Alexander was so excited when he saw it and of course tripped and fell running to it-but he was ok. phewf! He loved pushing it around at first but finally hopped on and rode and rode and rode.

He was such a trooper: shared, played, ate well (go figure!) and smiles galore. Thanks so much to everyone who came! We all had a blast!

P.S. Would you believe no pictures of the food table turned out? It was pretty darn cute too!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Long time no see! How are you all doing? I have missed you...

We just returned from a MUCH needed vacation to the Sunshine Coast here in B.C. It was Alexander's first trip on a a ferry boat and to the beach/ocean. He is a total Beach Boy. Here he is dressed up as the captain he is! The picture quality is meh as it is an Instagram shot...

So many things have been happening and yet, not a heckuva lot either. We are doing some really amazing improvements to our front yard! THAT is exciting as this will be our 4th year in our home come November, so so overdue it hurts.

We are installing a river rock and flagstone path along the drive way for function and curb appeal. We are tackling some edging and actually removing the grass and installing bark mulch instead. I am not great at landscaping but my Mother in Law is, and her and my Father in Law have been a HUGE help. We will be planting some flowers and shrubs as well.

I have 2 unfinished adriondack chairs for the front and a bench I am sprucing up. I am part way done the bench and will share it when I am finished that, hopefully this weekend if the wood gets cut. I plan to decorate the yard with driftwood from out travels over the years to the Sunshine Coast and some other goodies. It will feel so good if we finish it before the Summer's end. Hard when one of us works rotating shifts! Not to mention with our lil helper! ;)

Hope you are all having a great Summer. Been browsing your blogs-but have been neglecting mine. BIGTIME. All I can do it try to be a better blogger!

Monday, February 18, 2013

I have been planning A.J.'s first birthday celebration since late November. Sock Monkey party fun!

I have really missed crafting and figured this would be a good excuse er, opportunity to craft until I was blue in the face. Little did I know that would be quite literal ;) I knew I wanted a cohesive, cute and fun look to the party. What is more fun than sweet sock monkeys?

For Alexander's present we searched high and low for a shiny red Radio Flyer wagon. Once we found it, party planning was in full swing! I had seen pictures of wagons used as props on good ole pinterest and loved the idea. I liked the idea of using it to corral a few birthday themed items at the front door. Too cute!

I have done a few posts on wreaths in the past and love how easy they are to include in current theme/seasonal decor. So of course I needed to do a sock monkey wreath for AJ!

Sweet multi-colored pompoms I made (on night shift as my patients slept!) and a bright letter "A" dressed this grapevine wreath up in a snap. I added a Sock Monkey pennant made from a pdf file purchased from Etsy. The shoppe I ordered from is exceptional and has wonderful customer service. I was over the moon with all of her stuff! Such a sweet detail upon entering the party house!

This was the entry table welcoming and thanking all AJ's guests for coming. I did a party favor for the adult guests as well as adorable sock monkey themed loot bags for the kiddos. They were a huge hit!

As mentioned for the grown ups, I put together this strata cookie mix in mason jars. It was super fun putting all 21 together. Not that I was counting! ;)

I made vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and topped them off with adorable cupcake toppers from the same Etsy shop. I bought various pdf files from her that all co-ordinated so beautifully!

My Aunt Liz made AJ's cake. She is so talented and I was so happy with how this turned out. AJ loved it! The cake was delish and it was super adorable. See that adorable little banana? HA! That was the FIRST thing AJ grabbed!

I made these little sock monkey cookies at 11:00 pm the night before. I admit they are a RUSH job. But still turned out pretty good! I was so organized with the party planning BUT underestimated the time we would need to set up! We were up til 4:40 am the night leading up to the party! Guest arrived for 12:00...I hopped in the shower at 11:50. Swear it.

HA! AJ's little finger print in the dots! He thought they were buttons to push! CUTE!

My little man having some cake! He just loved it!

Here is the birthday boy's party attire. I ordered the adorable onsie from this Etsy store. It was so so cute. Best thing? The cake stained all came out!

Thank you for stopping by and looking at Alexander's first birthday pictures. I must tell you, I was so busy and late getting ready, I did NOT have time to take pictures with my real camera. I asked Josh to take some, and while they are good, they are not blog style and did not show the sweet details of the party decor. I wish I had taken more. So I am so sad they are iPhone pictures :( There was a sweet banner and so many cute balloons. Oh well, that's life!

Have a happy day!

p.s. I plan on doing posts on the pompom wreath and the mason jar cookie mix :)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Ok, yes, I know I am over due on this. But I still want to wish you all a wonderful 2013.
Resolutions? Yes, I have a few. I am not entirely sure they are any different than last years really.
But I will share a few...
1) Blog more
2) Learn to use my beautful Nikon camera...well. (SARAH!!!!!!)
3) Organize the house...this is proving to be a challenge. Just seems no time with a busy near 12 month old!
4) Continue to finish unfinished projects around the house...but to be fair, the huns has to help with these :)
5) Show more gratitude and be more thankful. In more tangible ways.

Just a few...kinda boring. I am also focused on my little monkey. I want to spend more time devoted to day trips and outtings as a family. The aquarium and the zoo (if you can call it that) to name a few. He is growing so fast, I feel like I am missing it. Gotta spend more quality time. Darn work.

That being said, I love my job. Nursing is so fantastic. I am happy to be back caring for my patients. Man, I really did miss that.

I also want to take a moment to thank a few of my blog friends for some pretty awesome things.
Liz, thank you so so much for the art print you sent AJ for his first Birthday. SO thoughtful and I love it.
Sarah, thank you so much for the impromptu camera lesson. That was sweet :)

So there you have it, a mish mosh of thoughts. No pictures, no crafts, no home decor.
Hope you are all well and healthy!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Happy December everyone! On Friday, I was lucky enpugh to take part in Jenn's Trim the Tree party {as mentioned on Fridays post!} I wanted to share with you what I did incase you missed it! So without further ado...

In January I became a first time parent to a pretty amazingly adorable little man and I am just starting to do all things crafty, DIY and home decor related again. LONG overdue!I am a self proclaimed Christmas nut, however I am sure my family and friends would not bat an eye to nominate me as such. Confession: I listen to Christmas tunes BEFORE Halloween. Yes, that is a fact.

I am so excited to take part in Jenn's Trim the Tree Party!I have known Jenn for a very long time and have been a huge fan of her blog since day one. I love her crafty ways and her fearless outlook on all things DIY. This is actually my very first guest post ever and I just love that it is a Christmas themed feature. I had been wracking my brain, trying to think of a way to capture some of the sweetest little details about my little man Alexander and make them into a special keepsake for our Christmas tree. I wanted to do a message in a bottle type ornament-something he could he could one day open and read. I wanted a way my hubby and I could express the joy he brings us and document a few milestones in a meaningful way. I had a flash of genius! (ok, maybe a stretch?) I thought about using clear ornament balls (instead of a bottle for our message) and it took off from there. I wanted it to be very simple, sweet and somewhat traditional looking. Here is what I came up with!Materials

clear glass ornament ball

glitter paint

paint brush

number stencil

painters tape

exacto knife

bakers twine

vellum paper

kraft paper

letter stamp set

stamp ink in black

jute string (for hanging)

How To

type a list of things you wish to document on the computer-I put the year at the top and then listed the sentiments in point form, the print it on vellum paper.

cut the list it to resemble a long scroll, roll it up and secure it with a piece of bakers twine.

Next cut a small piece of kraft paper and fold it width wise {to give it more weight} and glue it together with adhesive dots to secure the fold. I used tiny letter stamps to spell out my little mans name on both sides. I also burnished the edges with black ink to give it some visual interest.

Using a cardboard stencil, trace the number 1 on to painters tape and carefully cut it out with a exacto blade. Then place the painters tape stencil on the glass ball as a custom adhesive stencil. Be sure to press the edges of the painters tape stencil down firmly with your nails to avoid any bleeding of the paint. I did three coats of paint to build up the glitter paint power ;) Let dry and carefully remove stencil. I VERY carefully scored the edges with the exacto knife first.

Carefully place the tied scroll and name card into the ball.

Lastly, add some jute string to hang from your tree!

This little ornament is the first of a tradition I plan to keep up each Christmas, recognizing the number of Christmases we celebrate with our Alexander. This year he is actually going to be 11 months old on Christmas day. The number on this ornament is to signify his 1st Christmas :)

I hope you and your loved ones have a very happy Holiday Season and make many cherished memories with your loved ones. Warm Wishes!